For 24 years, and running, the Festival of Fantastic Films has been bringing the best collection of movies and guests to Manchester

Guest of honour in 2014

Yvonne Monlaur

Born in Pau, she is the daughter of a Russian count and a ballet dancer.
After appearances in 15 French and Italian feature films, Miss Monlaur arrived in England, accompanied her Mum as chaperone, to appear in the top international TV show The Third Man, which featured Michael Rennnie in the title role.
Her first British feature film was Inn For Trouble, the spin-off from the highly successful television comedy series, The Larkins.
However, horror called, with Circus of Horrors, opposite such genre alumni as Anton Diffring and Donald Pleasance.
But it was Hammer’s The Brides of Dracula (just released on Blu Ray) that really put her on Britain’s cinematic map.
Starring opposite David Peel as the vampiric Baron Meinster, her character Marianne Danielle had the good fortune to find that Dr Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) was on the trail of this particular undead nobleman.
The following year, 1961, she appeared opposite everyone’s favourite Dracula, Christopher Lee, who played top villain Chung King in the Hong-King set Hammer production Terror of the Tongs.

Judy Matheson

Actress Judy Matheson found fame in two Hammer Horror films both made in 1971. These films were Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil.
Between roles in such popular television programmes as Coronation Street, Crossroads, Z-Cars and Blake’s 7, The Sweeney, The Professionals, Citizen Smith and The Professionals, Judy kept up her profile in feature films such as Crucible of Terror, The Flesh and Blood Show and Scream...and Die!

Italian writer-director Luigi Cozzi (who sometimes uses the name Lewis Coates) has confirmed that he will make his first appearance at the Festival.
Best-known for such films as Contamination (which starred one of our previous guests Ian McCulloch), the 1983 version of Hercules (with TV’s Hulk, Lou Ferigno, but without his trademark green skin) and Starcrash, starring the legendary Marjoe Gortner and another great guest who will be appearing this year, the lovely Caroline Munro.

Burmese-born starlet Me Me Lai was establishing her presence in British films and television, from the BBCs Paul Temple series to ITV’s Jason King, when a call came from the burgeoning Italian film industry.
Jetting off to Rome, Me Me found herself starring in Sacrifice (publicised as “THE MOTHER OF ALL CANNIBAL MOVIES!”).
When she returned to Britain she became hostess of ITV’s The Golden Shot. But in 1977 Me Me was called back to Italy for another alimentary adventure, this time Ruggero Deodato’s flesh-eating film, Last Cannibal World, later re-titled Jungle Holocaust .

Italian actress Francesca Ciardi, probably best-known for her role as Faye Daniels in Ruggero Deodato’s definitive 1980 human-on-human carnivore classic, Cannibal Holocaust, will travel to this year’s Festival.
Cannibal Holocaust, tagged “THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILM EVER MADE”, caused an international sensation, as it was rumoured that the director had asked the actors to go into hiding, so that audiences might believe that the film was a documentary and the people onscreen had all been eaten.
Hopefully Francesca will be able to give us the inside story on that and other legends surrounding this iconic film.
She has just finished filming the British horror movie Death Walks and is preparing for two more new film roles.

A Bond girl in the 1967 extravaganza Casino Royale, opposite a selection of James Bonds played by the likes of David Niven (Sir James Bond) and Woody Allan (Little Jimmy Bond), Caroline re-appeared as a “proper” Bond girl ten years later opposite Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me.
In between, she appeared in such classic fantasy-horror films as The Abominable Dr Phibes, Dr Phibes Rides Again, Dracula 1972 A.D. and Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter.
She has featured in three new films this year, Vampyres, Crying Wolf, and the comedy-horror Cute Little Buggers.

Richard Dyer, Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, has confirmed that he will attend the festival to speak about serial killers in reality and on film.
The author of numerous books, he has an international reputation for his contribution to contemporary gender, media, culture and film theory.
One of his great interests is serial killing in European cinema.

Janina’s career as a child actress really took off with starring roles in the superb Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, The Hands of Orlac and Day of the Triffids. She then won roles in such classic television series as The Human Jungle, Z Cars, Emergency Ward 10 and many more.
Unlike many child stars, Janina progressed to a highly successful career as an adult actress, featuring in TV’s Please Sir, Little Women, Jackanory, Napoleon and Love, Angels, The Bill and many others.

Writer Stephen Volk first attended the Festival as a guest and enjoyed it so much that he returned as a fan. It was Stephen who scared the living daylights out of the British public with Ghost Watch, which he wrote for the BBC in 1992.
He had already written the screenplay for Ken Russell’s 1986 movie Gothic, the story of the dark rainy night in 1815 when Mary Shelley (played by Natasha Richardson) dreamed up her immortal story Frankenstein.

Note: All guests listed are confirmed as attending - however, it is only fair to be aware that all appearances are subject to commitments - and the Festival organisers cannot be held responsible for any cancellations. Where this occurs it is policy to try to replace the guest with another; however, that is not always possible.

The festival has attracted numerous well known guests over the years a small selection can be seen by clicking on the link below